Pre-moistened cleansing wipes are well known, and are referred to as wet wipes, towelettes, and the like. Pre-moistened wipes include a substrate, such as a nonwoven web, pre-moistened with a lotion. The lotion can be an aqueous lotion, and typically includes one or more surface active materials (surfactants). The lotion can also include preservative and fragrance ingredients.
Pre-moistened wipes find use at home or away from home, especially with the cleansing of children and infants. For example, wipes are often used to clean an infant's skin during a diaper change. As well, pre-moistened wipes find use among adults, typically in conjunction with the use of incontinence articles. Other uses of pre-moistened wipes include general cleaning tasks where soap, cloths, and running water may be unavailable, unsuitable, or inconvenient for a particular task. In almost all instances, pre-moistened wipes are provided as folded, stacked, sheets of disposable wipes, each wipe meant for one-time use. Thus, pre-moistened wipes are often referred to as disposable wet wipes.
There are two basic types of containers for providing stacked sheets of pre-moistened wipes to the user. In one container type, often referred to as a “reach in” container, the premoistened wipes are in a folded, stacked arrangement of discreet sheets. This configuration permits one towel at a time to be exposed to the user, who “reaches in” and extracts the topmost wipe from the container. The remaining wipes remain in their stacked, folded configuration. Reach in containers often have a tub-like configuration (a rigid container) or a soft, generally rectangular package configuration and usually have a recloseable lid or cover to protect the remaining wipes from prematurely drying out.
One drawback to “reach in” containers is that wipes that are merely folded and stacked one on top of the other provide no means of conveniently providing the user with an edge or other portion to grasp for removal. The user must find and grasp the leading edge of the topmost wipe, which often is difficult to do. Thus, the consumer must try to find a free edge of the top wipe, and peel the wipe free from the remaining stack of wipes. This is often a time consuming and frustrating procedure, and can distract from the task at hand. Another drawback that reach in dispensing arrangements do not provide for simple, single dispensing of consecutive sheets. For example, as one sheet is removed, the next sheet remains in its folded, stacked configuration, requiring the user to reach into the tub or container to remove the next sheet. This can become inconvenient as the stack of wipes gets smaller, thereby requiring the user to reach further into the tub or container.
A second container type is commonly referred to as a “pop up” dispenser, wherein the trailing edge of a wipe being extracted from the package first draws the leading edge of the next wipe through an aperture or opening. As the first wipe exits the container, it is separated from the leading edge of the next wipe, leaving the leading edge of the next wipe held in a readily accessible position by the edges of the aperture. In one pop-up arrangement, discreet, folded wipes are interleaved in the stacked configuration. The wipes are interleaved (interfolded) such that they have overlapping edge portions which adhere to one another. The adhesion forces in the overlapping region supply the necessary force to permit one wipe to pull the leading edge of the next wipe through the container opening before separation of the respective overlapping regions occurs.
Pop-up dispensing is preferred by consumers because with each wipe used, when working properly, the leading edge of the next wipe is presented for easy grasping. The leading edge of the next wipe can be conveniently tucked into a suitable space in the top of the container prior to closing a cover which keeps the leading edge of the wipe from drying out. Upon occasion for use, the user simply opens the cover, grasps the leading edge of the wipe and pulls the wipe through the dispensing opening, which in turn pulls the leading edge of the next consecutive wipe through the opening.
Although consumer preferred, there are drawbacks to pop-up dispensing. The major drawback is dispensing reliability, i.e., the ability of the dispensing system to reliably dispense one sheet per pull, while leaving a portion of the leading edge of the next wipe accessible. The various problems associated with pop-up dispensing impact the design of the fold patterns, container configurations, opening size and shape, as well as overall wipe design. The problems associated with pop-up dispensing reliability include chaining, fallback, liftoff, and long edges.
Chaining occurs when product separation does not occur as one sheet is removed, and thus multiple sheets are withdrawn in a continuous “chain” of product. Even if it is only a two wipe “chain” the result is unwanted wipes being drawn from the container.
Fall back occurs when the wipe sheets separate prematurely before the next sheet is drawn into the dispensing opening. The next sheet thus falls back inside the container, and the user does not have a portion of the next wipe available for grasping.
Liftoff occurs when, in an attempt to extract the next wipe, the entire tub or container lifts into the air. The user must then use two hands to remove the desired wipe. If only one hand is available, the user must yank, jerk, or otherwise try to free the desired wipe from the container. Of course, this causes unnecessary aggravation to the consumer, who is often engaged in the unpleasant task of changing an infant's diapers at the time.
Long edges occur when too much of the leading edge of the next wipe is exposed through the dispensing opening after extracting the previous wipe. If a long edge is exposed, it can cause problems closing the cover over the dispensing opening because there is too much wipe to tuck into the designated area. Also, having long edges extend out of the dispensing opening causes a larger portion of the wipe to be more prone to prematurely drying out, thereby being of little value as a wet wipe to the consumer.
The reliability of pop-up dispensing, i.e., the minimizing of the above-mentioned drawbacks, can be impacted by the complex interaction of product moisture loading, dispensing orifice size and/or shape, extent of product overlap, compression during manufacture, and substrate properties. Efforts at improving pop-up dispensing have been focused primarily on improvements to containers, dispensing openings, wipe edge modifications, and interleaving configurations. However, due to the complex interaction of the various design parameters, there remains a need to provide reliable pop-up dispensing of pre-moistened wipes.
Accordingly it would be desirable to provide a pre-moistened wipe suitable for use in a pop-up container having reliable dispensing properties.
Additionally, it would be desirable to provide a pre-moistened wipe exhibiting reliable pop-up dispensing, and which also exhibits sufficient wetness perception levels for consumer acceptance.
Further, it would be desirable to provide a folded, stacked, interleaved sheets of pre-moistened wipes suitable for reliable pop-up dispensing.
Further, it would be desirable to provide a pop-up dispensing system for wet wipes which results in improved ease of dispensation and separation of a single wipe from the wet wipe stack and easy recognition of the location and ease of grasping the leading edge of each subsequent wipe.